✠ Psalmody: Psalm 86:1a, 2b–3; 4; Psalm 92:1-2; Psalm 108:1; Psalm 40:1, 3a; John 6:56
✠ Lection: 1 Kings 17:8–16; Galatians 5:25—6:10; Matthew 6:24–34
In the Name of the Father and of the ✠ Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the second petition of the Lord’s Prayer, we pray Thy kingdom come. The lust of the flesh desires to keep this truth at a distance; to keep the kingdom of God as some abstract truth confined to motions of habit constrained to Sunday morning, or else a far-off reality about which only the true religious nuts among us really take seriously. But to be Christian is to live in and by this reality, for the only other one outside of it is unbelief. Thy kingdom come. What does this mean? The kingdom of God certainly comes by itself without our prayer, but we pray in this petition that it comes to us also. We pray that God’s kingdom not remain distant, that it not remain something of which only the heathen need to lay hold, that it not only comes to others, but that it comes to us also. How does God’s kingdom come? God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit, so that by His grace we believe His holy word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity. Thus, our dear Lord teaches that all who desire to be Christian are to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you; all these things about which we tend to worry, like what shall we have? What shall come tomorrow? What shall happen to me? To my nation? To my family? To the ones I love? When we do not seek first, primarily, above all else, the kingdom of God and His righteousness, we not only drive ourselves deep into worry, anxiety, depression, and despair, but we confess to God that we do not trust what He is doing and that we believe He could be doing better. We are quite often our own worst enemies because of the inbred sin that leads our hearts, minds, and spirits to have other gods. But no one, no one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.
It is not that the love of money and possessions alone is able to drive us to worry and a distrust of God, for there is plenty in each day’s own trouble to lead us into the temptation of anxiety over life and its woes as we allow our thoughts to think that if this day has had this amount of worry, what shall tomorrow bring, and the next, and the next? Beloved, we’re not guaranteed tomorrow nor that if it does come that the good Lord will allow us to see it. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble, therefore let us consider the trouble of the love of money being a root of all kinds of evil, for in America we are all rich in comparison to most of history’s conditions.
God has given us money and property, goods and riches to possess, and to possess rightly. The temporal, earthly things are here so that they may serve our bodily needs and those of our neighbor, always remembering that it is the Lord Who giveth and it is the Lord Who taketh away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord as He gives or takes according to His will. May the Lord ever grant us to do well with our bounty or with our lack. To be good stewards means to make use of what we have with our hands for our needs and for the needs of those around us, but to do so while reserving our hearts entirely for God. The Christian cannot set his heart on temporal things, for to do so is to sow to the flesh and not the Spirit.
Such is the danger with all cravings. The lure and deception lie in the promise that if a lust if fulfilled then its urge, its eagerness will subside and the pressure to do, to have, to eat, to drink, to buy, to consume will then subside. But the flesh cannot be satisfied. Whenever carnal desires are fed, they only then want more and our bellies become our gods, as the Scriptures say, meaning that whether or not it is something we stuff into our mouths, to feed any desire of the flesh is to cause it to crave for more. We all know the feeling, of, for some reason, not being able to stop; of feeling like we must take the next step, the next action, the next bite, the next drink, the next words, the next purchase, the next logon, the next scroll for if we don’t… well, we can’t see not doing it even as an option, because the desire of the flesh has got ahold of us. It keeps longing for more and more like the dark trap that it is.
Yet, we are not beasts. We are not hunched over the ground confined by the limits of the mind to the sin that wages war within us, deceiving us into believing that base desires must be fulfilled. We have a greater Satisfaction, one that truly delivers, and that is Jesus Christ our Lord Who says, “whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” Only the desire for Christ can be satisfying, because any desire beyond receiving what He gives isn’t one in which vain, fleeting things are grasped after, but for true fountains that shall endure and give good pleasure. The things of this world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life only speak the big lie that they can fulfill us, when they never can. Their limit is only to this brief life wherein they seek to lead our hearts astray from the Lord, as it is written, “Godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.” Only temporary fulfillment comes out of temporary things, yet somehow, we seek after them above the eternal, whether but by moments here, moments there, or in plagued, incessant thought where we find ourselves obsessed, and possessed, because of how much we’ve fed earthly desires. Thus, the roots of our worry and anxiety in this life need not much further investigation.
Therefore, all who cry out for Christ’s mercy, that He in His good pleasure, strengthen and keep you firm in His Word and faith until you die, believe and trust that He hears you. Live by His word that tells you not only to guard your heart against other gods, such as mammon, but to rest in His promise of aid. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. You need not seek far for the Lord is near, very near. Lo, He is with you even to the end of the age; a desperate, broken, and fallen age in which you must not depend on your ability to feel Him in your heart, or whether or not your emotions are in line, skipping about to a godly tune. You depend on His faithfulness and that of His word; two things given to you by which to govern your feelings and emotions. Govern them by what He gives to feed you with words that both mean something and create in you a clean heart. Govern them by the meal of immortality that satisfies a soul that hungers and thirsts for righteousness; righteousness that is eaten and drunk unto the soul by means of a body that longs in this life for dainties that only leave you with more insatiable hunger. But our God satisfies with food and drink that do not perish, with true meat and true drink, which give and preserve within us life everlasting.
You need not seek far for aid because in His Church He regularly feeds what He has placed within you, so that as you walk, as you go about your task, as you face down the urges of the flesh to worry, to overeat, to scratch the carnal itch, you turn to something, you turn to Someone greater. God’s kingdom comes when our heavenly Father gives us His Holy Spirit. The kingdom of God isn’t merely about getting more heathen inside from outside the gate. It is also about deepening the godly roots of strength as His kingdom dwells in those already in it. It is you also who need to hear again and again that your heavenly Father knows all the things that you need in this temporary life. He knows all the things that can and do lead to your angst, worry, and temptation to despair. And what has He given to you so that you may not worry about them? He’s given you far greater things. He’s given you His Son and in Him forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Only the sinful flesh, with obvious great aid from the devil and the world, is able to flip priorities in our minds and hearts thinking that if we lack the lesser things, the temporal things, then we ought to despair. No. Let us rather have confidence in our heavenly Father that if He has given to us His kingdom, which He has, and His righteousness, which He has, then He has given to us the greater to possess. And if He has given us the greater, then most certainly He can be trusted, He can be sought after day-after-day, to give us the lesser, temporal things that we need, especially when we find ourselves in the midst of a battle against their hold on our lives. We cannot serve both God and mammon. May Christ ever awaken our hearts to serve Him alone, for only His kingdom and righteousness can provide, deliver, and satisfy unto life eternal. Let us give Him thanks and forever seek them.
In ✠ Jesus’ Name. Amen.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.